? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you, mr. president. today i rise because middle-class families are counting on the house of representatives to do the right thing between now and the end of the year, which is just 19 days away for the house to pass the middle-class tax cuts that we sent them back in july. families need help. when we talk about fiscal cliff, the most important one is the -- what families are struggling with every day, and we only have 19 days until taxes on middle-class families go up by an average of $2,200 if the house of representatives doesn't act to make sure that 98% of the american public is protected from tax increases. as we know, we passed the middle-class tax cut act on july july 25. so far, the house has not acted. 19 days, they have 19 days until the end of this year in order to act. time is running out. country, a long-term plan for fiscal solvency and for our economy. and by the way, we'll never get out of debt with close to 12 million people out of work, so we better be focused on jobs and the economy as i am each and every d